The Days We Hold Precious
by NonsensicalCheshire
Summary: Life didn't matter to any of them, not really. Not until they met each other. Those four had their ups and downs, their good and bad times, and they wouldn't trade them for anything. Because they were together, and they were family, and that made all those things precious. / Raijinshuu story, Evergreen-centric, mostly, because she's the love of my life.
1. The Days of Past

Warnings: I guess there's nothing explicit, but brief mentions of self-harm and suicide attempts.

A/N: So, this is a Raijinshuu backstory, and while it will focus on all of them, it'll mainly be Evergreen, because she is my queen and I love her with a fiery passion. So excuse my favoritism of her, please.

. . . . . . . .

* * *

A fire.

That was what had taken them away from Freed. Hot, smothering fire, licking at him, leaving behind trails of flaming red on his flesh, it's smoke filling his lungs and dusting his green hair. A fire had ripped through the mansion when he was only nine, it's causes unknown. It was most likely an accident, officials told a shaken, alone little boy.

An accident.

That was what had taken them away from Freed?

Something so simple as maybe a servant leaving on the stove had ripped his parents away, and all his servants, his family?

He remembers them when he closes his eyes. His mother, a petite, beautiful woman. Her dress was always long and always simple, beautiful, but not made for a woman of her rank. Freed remembers burying his face in her beautiful blonde locks as she read to him. His father, a tall, sturdy man, always dressed in nice pants and a button-up shirt, his green hair trimmed short and neat. He can remember the sword play lessons given to him, the clap on the back he received from his father as he improved.

He also remembers seeing their burned bodies as the army dragged them out of the mansion. A nice army advisor had covered his eyes with her small hand, whispering condolences in the sobbing boys ear. Freed remembers her wrapping a coat around him and taking his hand, then saying:

Her home was practically empty.

Would he like to live with her?

Freed accepted, and he lived with her for three years. Her name was Carol, and she was amazing. Tall and dark haired, muscular instead of slim, beautiful green eyes, and oh so very smart. Her specialty in the army, he learned, was making runes.

He seemed to have the talent of magic.

Would he like to learn?

Naturally, Freed accepted, and his magic flourished swiftly. Carol became his mother of sorts, and he lived happily with her, the joy of being with her dimming the pain of losing his parents and home. She read to him, trained him, fed him, taught him.

And then she died in action when he was thirteen, her body buried behind her little cottage they lived in.

Freed left, unwilling to stay in a house filled with sweet memories.

He made way for a guild in a town only a couple days travel away.

Fairy Tail was what it was called. He remembered Carol going on about it, how she thought the rising guild was amazing, but that rowdy new members were joining it recently. It seemed like a good option. The Master accepted the solemn boy readily, even picked out some jobs that would suit him.

His daily routine was boring. Wake up, go to the guild, check for work, read, and go to bed.

Eventually his only companions were his books.

And that changed the day he met him.

. . . . . . . .

* * *

Nobody wanted him.

Bickslow was just a little bit creepy, the boy whose own parents feared him. He could make anyone do anything he wanted, with just the briefest eye contact. The other kids wouldn't play with him, and took to throwing stones at him, chanting "Freak! Freak!"

And though he put on a goofy, silly act, he really just went home and cried, his parents unwilling to soothe him out of fear. Good people, his parents, a tall and common-looking mother with jet-black hair, and a tall (though not as tall as his mother) man with dark blue hair. They were poor and close to living on the streets, but they loved their work.

They did puppet shows.

They carved and sewed the little characters themselves, often letting Bickslow help. The little boy loved to imitate voices and make them dance around from below, under a little wood stage. The best part? Hearing the laughs of people as they enjoyed themselves.

Though his parents were wary of him, they lived in contentment. Save for the sadness he felt of being neglected by his peers, Bickslow was also happy. He loved his parents a lot, and loved putting on the shows alongside his parents. Everything was great, just fine. Who needed those other kids when his parents and puppet friends were okay with him?

It was just fine.

And the whole thing came tumbling to the ground when he was thirteen. A dark guild stormed the town, gone mad with blood lust, the lot of them. Bickslow could still hear the screams of the terrified and murdered, and his own mother's frantic cry of his name as she protected him from an onslaught of arrows.

After that, he couldn't remember much. All he knew was he woke up with soft voices whispering in his ear, and the shaking mages of the dark guild scattered about. Dully, he looked about, and when his eyes came into contact with any of them, they ran off, screaming about a boy who controlled their souls to slaughter each other.

It was Seith magic, a book he read told him, and the whispering voices in his ear were most likely souls of the deceased that had surrounded him. Bickslow found it fitting to make the souls homes. After all, he wouldn't want to be floating about without a form. So, out of the wood of the fallen buildings of his town, he made puppets, and following the instructions of the book, attached the souls to the puppets. They followed his around and kept company.

They were the only ones there, even when he joined Fairy Tail. It was starting to get lonely and dull, he found. Would someone ever talk to him, be his friend? Or were they all too creeped out by his tongue wagging and crazy eyes?

It changed when he met him.

. . . . . . . .

* * *

What was warmth? What was true, pure love?

Evergreen didn't know at all. Nobody would give any of it to her, fear consuming them.

The first time she'd turned someone into a statue, she was three. A notorious criminal had broken into their home, holding a grudge against her father, a lawyer who had put him in prison years ago. He'd simply been holding a knife above her, ready for murder, but she opened her eyes.

Everyone in her home had gathered in time to see the man crumble away into dust. After that, nobody looked at her, and she was trained to keep her head down at all times. Never look, they said, or you'll do bad things. It hurt her parents, you know, because they loved her oh so much, and they did as many things as they could for her. It also hurt her big sister, who wanted nothing more than for her little Evergreen to be normal like her.

The most memorable moment of a bland, painful childhood was when she sat alone in a forest surrounding her home, looking at the flowers. She heard a sound like tiny laughter, and turned quickly to face it.

She came nose to face with a tiny little creature, and possibly the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. It was no taller than her small hand, and it had short, spike-y, sky blue hair, and it's dress was a vibrant red, standing out on silver skin. Wings emerged from it's back, an intricate pattern carving through them.

A fairy, she knew it was, and when she exclaimed so, the tiny creature giggled again and put a finger on her top lip. Hush, it said, she didn't want people to come running to find her. Evergreen's soul was sparkling, but clouded with darkness, the fairy also said forlornly, and they couldn't have that, oh no.

Could the fairy cure her, the young girl asked, please? The fairy only shook it's head and kissed her top lip where her tiny finger had been. It could not, she claimed, but she would have something better. The fairies would always be on her side, keeping the dark in her soul at bay.

Evergreen could sometimes see tiny, graceful shapes flitting past her window when no one else could, and sometimes they left a gift, like a flower or particularly pretty rock. However, they never came so close to her again for her to touch one.

Eventually, out of fear and confusion of her abilities, Evergreen ran away from home. She was only seven when she fled into the night.

And she was only eight when she met him, amidst the rubble of a ruined town, corpses littered about her. She could only cry, scrubbing at her eyes, a confused, skinny little girl who had been the sole survivor of a magically caused disaster. She remembers blinking up at a tall man with pale, pale skin and white hair, then flinching back.

But he didn't turn to stone, and concerned, deep blue eyes stared her down. She cried and buried herself in his chest when he knelt down to her height.

What was her name, he asked, and where was her family?

Evergreen, she said, and she didn't want to go back to her family.

The man's name was Simon, and he was her world. For some reason, he could look her in the eyes without turning into dust, and for that reason, she loved him. He found her food in nearly destroyed, wrecked towns, (the disaster that destroyed the town he'd found her in had spread to other areas before being shut down), and took her into abandoned libraries. He told her that books could do anything, and maybe they could find a cure for her in one of them. For days on end they would sit in those old libraries, poring through book upon book as he taught her to read.

Eventually, he left, gone in a second. Evergreen can recall looking over a town, excited at the prospect of fresh, not scavenged food, and turning to call back to him. But he wasn't there. Simon must be playing hide-and-seek, she thought, and she looked for him for days, but he wasn't anywhere. She cried again.

Much later, she'd learned that he'd made a contract with a demon unintentionally. It gave him the power to protect his town, but in exchange for the powerful magic, it drove him crazy slowly. She could vaguely recall him having moments where he would rant and rave about nothing, his eyes crazy. She stayed away from him at those times. Eventually, out of fear of harming the little girl when he went completely insane, he vanished without telling her a thing.

Evergreen wandered for years after that, taking odd jobs that required no eye contact and scarce human interaction, such as working in fields. It was horribly lonely, and she felt herself sink deeper and deeper into depression every day. Eventually she ran out of tears to cry and simply felt numb.

The only thing that still brought her joy were her fairies, their glowing shapes flitting about the night, watching her, she knew.

The growing obsession with the fairies led her to a guild: Fairy Tail.

Getting to it was a difficult journey, and she traveled halfway across Fiore, never looking at anyone, walking through the bustling town and getting knocked into, keeping her head down and eyes almost closed. And then, barely peeking up to look at the large building. Opening the door and almost getting a little boy with pink hair thrown into her. A short, old man rushing up to her (of course her eyes snapped shut immediately) and asking if she was okay, and what was such a cute young girl doing by herself?

She wanted to join, was her response, could they make room for her?

Of course, said the old man, the master apparently.

She was fourteen, and she moved into Fairy Hills with hardly anything but a few clothes, some books, and a scarce amount of food. All her money from jobs that she did on her own went to paying for the room, so food was something that she could barely pay for.

Sometimes she laid on the floor of the room, her arms freshly cut and bleeding, the knife thrown across the room, and wondered why the abominable curse had happened to her. Why did she have to turn everyone into stone? Why couldn't she look people in the eyes and feel something? Why did she have to hurt in such a way?

Eventually, she began contemplating suicide, and even prepared for it a few times. Nobody knew her, nobody would miss her, and the pain would be over. Each time she remembered Simon, and her family, and stopped the plan, and grew to hate herself even more for the weakness of being unable to end herself.

The dark in her soul the fairy had told her about had almost completely consumed her. Everyday she hurt, broke, cried, and wished, oh just wished for someone to rescue her, like in the books she so often read.

Eventually, her rescuers came.

. . . . . . . .

* * *

A/N: If you watch Adventure Time, you'll see that the story of Evergreen and Simon is quite similar to Marceline and Simon. The whole fiasco isn't going to be like that, but the basis of it is, I guess. Please, I swear I'm not trying to plagiarize it.


	2. How They Came to Be

"Thank you!" Freed called back to the town blacksmith, sheathing his blade. "I'll be back later for more lessons."

Since the day they met months before, the old man took a liking to him and took him on as something of an apprentice, teaching him to make his own blades. The one he had just put away was a rapier, and his first very successful piece that he was quite proud of. Lightweight and perfectly balanced, it could also channel magic for his Jutsu Shiki and runes.

With a sigh, the fourteen year old trudged back to his apartment near the guild, fingering the warm metal of the swords hilt. He craned his neck as he passed the guild with its open doors, hoping to catch a glimpse of Laxus Dreyar, a prodigy in the guild. He'd had conversations with him a few times, and they got along quite well, to be honest. On top of that, the master had seen their growing relationship, and even asked Freed to keep an eye on Laxus, keep him out of trouble.

Success.

Laxus was leaning against a pillar near the door and caught Freed's eye. He lazily lifted a hand in a wave, gave a small smirk, and went back to his music when Freed waved back. He smiled to himself, a bit more cheerful, and he straightened his gray blazer and tousled his shoulder length hair. What a good guy.

He was turning the corner to his building, content, when all of the sudden, a boy around his age… swung down from a street light? Freed gasped and stumbled back, hand instinctively on the blade.

The boy cackled wildly, his tongue waving as he did so. Five wooden puppets imitated the laugh as they floated about him. He was tall, Freed could tell, even though he was swinging with his knees hooked over the street light, and his face was gaunt. His eyes were crimson, and he had shaggy blue hair. He wore a black, short sleeved shirt and jeans, fitting for the early fall weather.

"Wha-Hey! You can't just pop out of nowhere and scare people!" Freed growled, lowering his hand. On the boys tongue was the Fairy Tail mark. This was his fellow guild member and likely not a threat.

"Oh?" The boy quirked an eyebrow. "Sure I can! It's way fun!"

"Whatever. If you'll please excuse me, I wanted to get into my apartment." Freed tried to avoid the boy, but with great agility, he swung himself off the pole and landed in front of the door.

"Eh eh eh! Bixy wanted to talk to ya about something." The boy cackled.

Freed's mouth opened a little and his eyebrow raised. "You're name is _Bixy_?"

"Well, no." He looked slightly embarrassed. "The name is Bickslow, actually. I'm sixteen, so I'm your senior. I hear your name is Freed Justine." He stuck out a hand, showing some manners.

Freed took it and shook it firmly, like his late father had taught. "Yes, it is. Do you have a last name, Bickslow-san?"

Bickslow shrugged, rolling back his shoulders. "Used to be White, but I gave up on that when my family died." Freed flinched at the casual tone he said it with. "And no need for 'san,' Freed, buddy."

Buddy? How casual could this buffoon get? Freed sighed. "Well, what prompted you to come speak to me, Bickslow?"

"I just saw that you're pretty good pals with the one and only Laxus Dreyar, ain'tcha?"

"… I suppose so."

"I want in!" Bickslow leaned forward, fists clenched eagerly in front of his abdomen. "That guy is hella awesome! Bein' near him will get me places, y'know."

"Y-you want to use Laxus for your personal gain?" Freed stepped back, appalled. "I'd never let you do that!" he said fiercely.

Bickslow looked annoyed. "Hey, I ain't askin' ya for much-"

"He's right, Freed."

Freed turned around, and Bickslow easily looked over his head with the height difference. Laxus was lazily leaning against the building behind them, his yellow shirt mussed as usual, and his dark green cargo pants hanging loosely.

The teen shrugged. "If he thinks I can help 'im, I don't have a problem with it if he hangs around." Laxus smirked. "Who knows? Maybe you two could form a team dedicated to me!"

Bickslow's eyes brightened, and Laxus laughed. It had been meant as a joke, that much was sure to Freed, but the "dedicated team" struck a thought. If Laxus was going to be as strong as Freed was sure he was, he would need an elite team to keep him safe from weaklings.

"You know what?" Freed asked, sticking out his hand to Bickslow, smiling. "I would like to form a team with you, Bickslow. I hope we can really get along."

. . . . . . . .

* * *

Evergreen stood next to the door of the guild hall for a minute, listening to the chaos, figuring out the safest route to get to the request board. The fifteen year old worked her thin hands anxiously, hearing the laughter of the guild. She wore a knee-length green sweater and brown leggings. Her thick brown hair hung all around her.

_Were they laughing at her? Was something wrong? Was anyone looking?_

"Hey, it's the freak again."

Evergreen stiffened, her hands squeezing each other so hard that they turned white.

"Nee-chan, don't say that!"

"What, Elfman, think she's cute?"

"Mira-nee, don't tease him!"

By the time the siblings had looked back over, she had slunk away, headed for the request board, eyes closed and head down as usual. Her eyes peeked open slightly to check around the board.

There was a boy, maybe a little older than her, leaning against it. Her eyes briefly flickered over the side of his face, then she shut them again. She thought she'd heard his name before, but it slipped her mind now, but his hair was blonde and a scar covered his right eye. Evergreen lowered her head, tightening her grip on her green sweater, working up the courage to speak.

"Excuse me."

Her voice was small. How pathetic.

A shifting sound as the boy turned to her. "What?"

"I-I'm alone, and I was wondering if there was a solo job… For someone who's not very strong."

A pause. Shifting of paper as he flipped through them for her. "Oh. Here's one for investigating an abandoned town. Shouldn't be a lot of fighting by the looks of it. Sound okay, kid?" He slid the paper into her hand.

"Y-yes, thank you." Narrowly missing a brawling Mira and Erza, she left the guild hall.

"Laxus, hey," said a small girl with brunette hair.

"Cana, what?"

Cana looked at the door Evergreen had just exited. "What's her name?"

"Dunno."

"Well, everyone thinks she's blind."

"Why?"

"She just never looks up, and when people have caught a glimpse of her face behind all that hair, her eyes are shut." Cana pouted. "And she never talks to anyone. Whenever someone approaches her, she just rushes off without a word." The girl crossed her arms. "She's a puzzle alright."

Laxus stayed quiet, then stood straight and walked off. "Who cares?"

. . . . . . . .

* * *

"Nice one, Freed!"

Bickslow coached Freed on as he took down the last monster, elegantly sheathing his rapier. Freed grinned and bowed as he walked towards his best friend.

"Oh, stop, you'll make me blush."

The two had gotten along like Freed had hoped, despite being incredibly different characters. Their team had been formed for a little less than a year, and Freed was now fifteen, Bickslow about to turn seventeen. The team, like Laxus had joked, was dedicated to him, but Freed was still searching for a third recruit. A team of three would be the most efficient, he'd worked out.

"Let's head back to the guild, now." Freed grinned again back at Bickslow. "I found the most amazing girl!"

"A girl?"

. . . . . . . .

* * *

"_That's _the most amazing girl?" Bickslow asked, not meanly, but just confusedly. He pointed at the brunette girl, probably Freed's age, stumbling along the path, clutching the wall for guidance. "I've heard rumors that she's blind or somethin'."

"I don't think so, because I saw something the other night."

. . . . . . . .

* * *

_"Um, I'm sorry, can you please…"_

_ "Wow, you're a cute one!"_

_ Freed's ears perked and his head turned down an alleyway across the river. He was on a late night walk when no one else was out, asleep in their homes. Talking at this hour was something he was unaccustomed to. A girl, skinny and shaking, was cornered by a much larger man, using his arms to trap her against the wall._

_ "P-please go, I'm not really…"_

_ "Hey, c'mere."_

_ Freed jumped as the man roughly grabbed the girl's wrists and pinned her against the wall, completely trapping her. Her shriek was soft, since he barely heard it. Instinct jumping in, he headed towards the alley-_

_ -and almost fell in the river, forgetting that he was on the other side. No bridge was in sight, and he wouldn't be able to get over in time. He swore and contemplated swimming._

_ His thoughts broke when he heard the man yell._

_ Freed looked up again to see… a statue? The girl was shaking violently and was yanking her wrists in the statues grip, frantic to get free. Eventually, she yanked them free, and he thought that they must be rubbed raw, the poor thing. She curled up on herself and cried while the man turned to dust._. . . . . . . .

* * *

"I think she did that to that man," Freed said, retelling the tale to his friend.

Bickslow shuddered. "She… killed him?"

Freed gave him a cross look. "I don't think she meant to. And all she had to do was look at him, and that happened. So I don't think she's blind. She just can't control that magic, whatever it is."

Bickslow's eyes followed the girl as she stumbled along. "And?"

Freed's eyes gleamed. "Look at her soul. I want to know what it's like."

Bickslow grumbled and leaned forward a bit, squinting. "… It's dark. It's like the kind of dark that Mirajane's has when she does a Takeover, but… also a really depressed sort of dark." He paused. "But it's also really bright around the edges… It's so beautiful."

Freed looked at that girl as she turned a corner. "I think she's sad, just like you said. So I want to help her."

. . . . . . . .

* * *

For days on end Freed and Bickslow were in the library, even the ones in nearby towns. They asked Master Makarov (who was clueless), consulted local magic dealers (who were even more clueless), and then returned to looking at book after book.

Eventually, it came to Freed.

"Hey, Bickslow." They were lying on the floor in the library, books strewn around them. Freed had his arms behind his head as a cushion.

"Mmm?" An open book covered Bickslow's face.

"So, if her magic is caused by direct eye contact, then would something between the person's eyes and hers prevent it?"

Bickslow contemplated, removing the book from his head. "That's not a bad idea, bud."

Freed rolled over onto his knees, and started using his hands for emphasis. "So even, like, something really small and thin, like glasses?"

Bickslow sat up, stretching. "Maybe."

A bright smile lit up the boy's face. "Going glasses shopping, Bicks. C'mon!"

. . . . . . . .

* * *

Evergreen walked through the grassy field, an alternate route to Fairy Hills that she took to avoid people. Cautiously, she would feel around with one foot, then when she was sure it was safe of sticks and rocks, she'd step forward. The cold, late fall air nipped at her nose, and she pulled her green scarf up to her nose. To guard against the chilly air, she wore brown leggings and a black winter coat that went down to her knees. One end of the scarf went down to the same length.

Giving up on feeling about, she nervously opened her eyes and glanced up, double checking for people. Nobody. She lifted her head and walked forward more confidently. She wanted to get home fast. Her scars were aching from the cold, and her wrists still ached from the wrestle with the statue nights before. Evergreen breathed deeply and closed her eyes against the wind, and tripped on a rock in that brief moment.

With a shriek, she tumbled down a hill, groaning at the bottom. Her ankle hurt, having twisted it the wrong way in the wayward journey. Trembling, she attempted to stand, then simply flopped down.

"What's the point?" she asked nobody quietly. She laid there for maybe an hour, then picked herself up and limped over to a large boulder, sitting down, sighing deeply and laying back, supporting herself on her arms.

"Hey!"

Evergreen shrieked and fell of the boulder, huddling with her back against it. Her eyes snapped mostly shut, but through a sliver of openness she could see the bottom of his boots, a mere three feet away from her.

"Name's Bickslow. How d'ya do?" he asked.

Evergreen shivered and pressed against the rock. "Please leave."

"Hey, girlie, it's fine-"

"Bickslow, an approach like that scared her."

The sound of boots crunching against the snow indicated the coming of another person. Evergreen wanted to cry.

"Shut it, Freed!" Bickslow growled.

A slight chuckle emitted from "Freed," and he bent down on one knee in front of her.

"Hey. I'm Freed Justine. Can I ask your name, miss?"

"Please, go." Evergreen was begging now.

She could barely see a hand coming up, reaching for the hair hanging in her face.

"No!" Her hands came up to swat away the arm and shield herself. "You can't do that!" Her voice softened. "I'm a monster."

Freed spoke again, his hand retreating. "What's your name?"

Voice shaking, she said, "Evergreen." Maybe they would go away now.

"That's a pretty name. Evergreen." She could hear him rustling about in his coat. "I'm going to help you."

Her head lifted, lips parted slightly, hope sparking for an instant before it died. "Help?"

"Mhhm." The sound of something opening, maybe a case? "You have to trust me, Evergreen. I need to touch you for just a second. Is that okay?"

What was there to lose? She nodded. Barely, she felt his skin. Most people wouldn't have taken notice of such a tiny touch, but to Evergreen, it was amazing. Something settled on her nose and ears.

Glasses?

"Freed, this is gonna work, right?"

"Pretty sure, Bickslow." Freed's hands lowered. "Now, look at me."

"I can't." She started shaking again.

"It's okay, you can." His voice was gentle and kind.

"No, I'll kill you. I told you, I'm a monster."

"Evergreen, I'm going to take that risk. When I count to three, open your eyes and look up at me. If something happens, it's my fault. Now, one-"

She can't do it.

"Two-"

He's such a nice person it seems, she doesn't want to.

"Three. Evergreen."

Scared out of her mind, her eyelids drifted open. Slowly, her head lifted up until it met his face. Her heart stopped. The cold vanished. Everything slowed down.

He wasn't stone.

She was looking at someone, _looking at someone for the first time in years, _and he wasn't a statue.

Evergreen's eyes filled with tears and she stood still, trembling.

Bickslow yelled in victory. "It worked!" She didn't look at him, keeping her eyes only on Freed Justine.

Freed smiled. When was the last time she'd seen a smile? Years and years. She unconsciously drank in every detail.

"Hey, look!"

His eyes were a bluish color.

"You're eyes-"

His hair went down to his shoulders and was grass green.

"-are so pretty!"

He wore a button-up red shirt and a black blazer, dark jeans.

"And so is your face. It's a shame you chose to hide all this time."

His smile made crinkles at the corner of his eyes.

The tears fell from her eyes and, still shocked, she lifted her hands up, hovering them over each side of his face. His smile still remained, and Bickslow sat down behind him. He wore a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket, and dark jeans similar to Freed. He smiled at her, too.

Evergreen leaned forward, wanting to hug the boy. Her sobs were quick and uncontrolled, and her arms lingered around him. She was unsure how to execute the hug and was quickly embarrassed with herself. He leaned forward as well, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her mess of hair.

She felt warmth and human contact for the first time in years. She felt him laugh as she cried harder and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing as hard as her weak limbs allowed. He pulled back and brushed the hair out of her face.

"Don't be afraid," he said.

"You're not alone anymore."

. . . . . . . .

* * *

Four days later, Evergreen sat up in a tree, reading a book and eating a small meal of apples and walnuts. She leaned against the thick trunk, wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts, as the day was unusually warm for the time of year. Of course she had detached sleeves on as well to hide her scars.

"… sure she ate lunch here everyday."

"Ya sure, bud?"

It was Freed and Bickslow. She hadn't seen them since a few days ago, when they'd helped her. Swallowing, she put her apples and book in her messenger bag, swinging down from the tree limb, thoroughly startling the two boys.

"Evergreen!" Freed gasped, putting his free hand over his heart. His other hand held a… picnic basket?

Bickslow cackled. "Classic move."

Evergreen flinched back. "S-sorry. Do you want me to leave?" she asked.

"Leave?" Freed seemed mortified. "Perish the thought." He held up the picnic basket. "I wanted to have lunch with you. That's fine, right?"

_Were they joking? Something had to be wrong. This wasn't right._

She tilted her head a bit. "Y-you want to eat… with me?"

Freed was already laying out food on the picnic table, and Bickslow was making himself comfortable. Hesitantly, Evergreen approached the two boys and followed Freed's hand gesture to sit down next to him.

Her mouth began to water at the sight of the food. Sandwiches, soup, and cake. When was the last time she ate a hot meal like soup? Or had the kind of meat that was in the sandwiches? She'd had cake, oh yes. That was one of the foods that she spent her scarce food money on.

"You can have seconds, if you want," Bickslow said, smiling. "You're pretty skinny, y'know. Couldn't hurt to get some meat on those bones."

"Oh, thank you!" she said, cramming another bite of a beef sandwich into her mouth. "I haven't had such good food in a long time."

Freed sweatdropped a bit. "I-it's not much, but I'm glad you think it's so good."

Evergreen put down a spoonful of soup. "Oh no, really, it is! I don't get to eat a lot, since the jobs I take pay low wages. I barely manage to pay my rent every month."

Bickslow waved a sandwich in the air to start off his sentence, then cussed when the meat flew out. "I know how that is. Lived on my own for a bit, couldn't afford much food myself at times. But I always managed to make money."

Freed chewed contentedly and let the other two talk. Evergreen leaned forward, interested. Conversation was a glorious thing, she was learning. "Really, Bickslow-san? How?"

"Just Bickslow is cool. And just Freed for Freed. Well, I did it by putting on puppet shows." His tongue hung out as he gestured to the floating puppets about him.

Evergreen pushed her glasses up her nose. She wasn't used to wearing them, even after the few passed days. "Puppet shows?" She remembered those. Simon would teasingly put on a terrible one for her when she was a little girl, and they never failed to make her laugh. Freed put his sandwich down, massaging his temples. Carol always took him to one whenever they passed through their town.

Bickslow nodded. "You don't know how satisfying it is to make people laugh. I know you don't, Freed, 'cause you're a stick'n the mud."

"W-wha- I am not!"

The girl laughed as the two continued to bicker, then covered her mouth in shock. That hadn't happened for a while, either. The more she spent time with these two, the more she realized that her existence was totally pitiful in another way than the sense that she was alone and depressed. It was pitiful because she'd never _allowed _simple pleasures.

"You're pretty when you laugh."

Evergreen blushed and leaned back. Freed had stopped arguing his "stick in the mud" rank and was looking at her, cheek in his hand.

"And you know, there's a way that you can get paid more."

Startled, Evergreen leaned forward, yanking at her sleeves. "There is?"

Freed leaned in forward as well, meeting her in the middle. His finger came up to poke her nose. "You can join our team."


	3. Make a Man Out of You

A/N: If you couldn't tell, I watched Mulan and listened to the soundtrack as I wrote this. Man, I love Mulan. Also, thanks for the reviews! They mean a lot to me.

* * *

"It's freezing!" Bickslow shouted, yanking his purple parka tighter than it already was. Howling wind whipped at him, stinging his nose.

The team of three each wore parkas and goggles to protect themselves from the howling blizzard. The landscape around them was a sheet of white, and the sky a light gray is it cast freezing snow on them.

"Evergreen, how're you holding up?" He heard Freed shout to their new member.

_Evergreen, Evergreen, it's always her nowadays, _Bickslow thought to himself. But then again, the girl still wasn't at all strong; she was still scrawny and had almost no muscle, and wasn't much use in a fight yet, so it was wrong of Bickslow to be spiteful of her, and Freed was in his right mind to be worried about her almost constantly.

"Fine, I think," she said. Her long, straight brunette hair flew in the wind. Bickslow hadn't realized how long it was until it was almost hitting him in the face. "I'm not used to this kind of thing, though."

Freed didn't look back, but kept trudging ahead. "That's okay. This is your first difficult job."

And their first job as a team.

Freed had held up the job proudly, smiling and saying that the Master had thought it would be a good job for the two mages. It had shocked the master when he took the job and said that their ranks had moved up to three with the addition of Evergreen. The job was, Freed had explained reading the paper, to find a group of thugs who had made an arctic wasteland their escape. An odd place, they'd decided.

"W-was it a good idea to bring me along?" Evergreen asked. "I mean, I'm not strong, and I'm sure I won't be of much use. And I can't control my magic very well, yet. I don't know how to keep my statues from turning to dust…"

"You're learning, it's okay," Bickslow reassured. "And even so, some of these people are murderers. If they died, it wouldn't be any worse than putting down a stray dog." His eyes flickered over to Evergreen's face. "Sometimes these stray dogs just look like people."

Her mouth opened to say something, but Freed held out an arm, signaling them to stop moving. "Wait," he said. "I hear something…"

A few moments later, a fireball erupted from their side to almost hit Freed. He blocked it with a quickly made rune wall, the symbols flowing from his drawn sword.

"Sneak attacks aren't honorable," he said, shouting towards the general direction. His eyes closed. "But I suppose that you are not an honorable people, am I right?"

Bickslow grabbed Evergreen's arm. His puppets flitted about anxiously. "Hey, stay close."

"They sent _kids _after us?" came a scoffing voice. Freed stepped back as a head popped up from the snow in front of them. An earth mage, maybe? "Oh, this is too rich."

"Say that again," Bickslow growled. "We may be young compared to you geezers, but we can take you down."

Evergreen's arm tensed. "They're all wearing goggles. I don't know if I can-"

"That's fine. Bickslow, keep her close." Freed adjusted his handle on the sword. "I'll manage these two. There are a total of five, so keep an eye out."

"Got it!" Bickslow shouted against the wind. With a wave of his hand, his babies created a formation about him and the girl, circling constantly.

Evergreen gripped her arm, frowning. _I'm useless. Why'd they even invite me to join their team? First job and I've already screwed up…_

"Hey, princess."

Evergreen looked up at Bickslow.

"I know what you're thinkin'. And you ain't useless. You just have to get stronger. And Freed and I are gonna help with that, so don't worry." He flashed a tongue-y smile at her. "Just let good ol' Bixy and Freed take care of you until then."

_Did they really care? Or were they just playing with her, intending to drop her somewhere along the way?_

But she smiled. "Okay. Thanks."

His head snapped away. "Incoming!"

A blast from the dolls knocked away a charging woman, throwing her back a few feet.

"Tch, most of them might be non-mages, but they're sturdy."

Evergreen looked over at the fighting Freed. "Is Freed going to-"

"Be okay? Yeah. He might not look it, but he's the strongest out of the three of us."

In the split second of reassurance, a man broke the ranks of puppets and punched Bickslow squarely in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Evergreen avoided a punch and fell to her knees by his unconscious body. Not thinking, she threw herself over him, enduring multiple blows in his stead.

"Bicks! Evergreen!" Freed regained his composure and slashed at one of the men, successfully taking him down. "Hang on, I'll-" The other mage cut him off with a fireball he had to dodge.

Her side burned as it received kick after kick.

_I'm sorry. This is all I can do._

She buried her bleeding face in his coat.

_I'm so weak, this is my fault._

"Oi, just stab her now and get it over with."

_Stop it._

An explosion ripped through the blizzard.

* * *

_It's really cold._

The world was deathly silent as her eyes blinked open. Evergreen was laying in the snow, the blizzard slowly burying her.

There was no one in sight.

_Was I right? Was I so weak that they left me?_

She curled up a little bit and, against her will, her eyes filled with tears. Why was she going to cry over boys that she'd only known for a week, total?

_Because they made your life infinitely better. And they treated you normally. You liked them a lot, actually._

_ It's so cold._

Her eyes drifted shut. She laid there for another fifteen minutes.

_It would be nice to freeze to death here, wouldn't it? No one would ever know…_

"…Evergreen!"

A voice in the distance, the sound mauled by the howling wind. Her eyes opened.

"Where are you!? Hey!"

Bickslow?

"I hope she's okay."

Getting closer, it sounded like Freed, too. Numb, she stirred a bit.

"I saw something move!" came only a few seconds later.

The sound of boots crunching the snow down came closer, closer, and there was a person kneeling down by her- no, two- and shaking her.

"Damn. We've got to get her out of the cold, she's freezing."

Trembling, she got to her knees, effectively shocking the two. "W-what happened?"

"You're well enough to move, good." Bickslow grabbed her hand, pulling her up. His other one rested on his head in shock. "We don't know! There was just this blast, and we were all scattered. We got all the baddies tied up (the blast knocked 'em all out), but we couldn't find you."

Freed put his hands on her shoulder. "You're crying. Does it hurt somewhere?"

Evergreen had hoped the tears would be hidden by the eye gear. She looked away, shaking her head. "I was just scared…" With difficulty, she clutched her chest. "That you'd left." She felt like a little kid at the moment, frightened that her parents had abandoned her. She knew how that felt.

Freed tilted his head, frowning. "Left? Never. Not us." He rested his forehead on hers. "Don't worry. The three of us will always be together, like fate intended." He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I'll be your protector from now on."

* * *

"…"

Bickslow simply looked confused, drumming his fingers against his puppets. Freed had laced his fingers together and was resting his forehead against them, shoulders slumped, like he was very sad. Evergreen felt like crying, leaning against a wall in jeans and a tank top. No sleeves. Nothing to cover her secrets.

They'd caught her changing on accident.

They'd seen her arms, cut up and scarred and bruised.

"When was the last time you did it?" Freed asked, not opening his eyes or lifting his head.

Evergreen looked up for a moment, then her eyes flitted down to the ground. "The day before you found me. I haven't gone without it for this long for a while."

"Why?" he asked.

She flinched. "It- the pain validated me. It made me feel…" Her head dropped. What had it made her feel? It had been something.

"Evergreen, cutting doesn't work-"

"Yes it does!" she shouted. The two were taken aback. In the month they'd met her, she'd never raised her soft voice. "I did it because it worked!"

Freed lifted his head, eyes concerned. She's been expecting anger.

"Evergreen, are you going to stop? With the cutting and suicide attempts?"

Her eyes traced the patterns in the floor again. "… I haven't thought about suicide in a while. But cutting… I don't know."

"Can you try?" Bickslow asked, speaking up.

"I can't-" She stopped. "Yes. I can try."

Freed stood from the table and put his hands on her shoulders. The tension left her body and she simply sighed. "Your emotions are valid, but the way you're trying to confirm that isn't healthy. If you ever feel like hurting yourself ever again, just come talk to Bickslow and I. We won't care if it's early in the morning or whatever." He shook her a bit. "But it hurts us when you hurt yourself."

_I don't want to hurt them._. . . . . . . .

* * *

"That's him?" Evergreen asked, leaning out from behind Bickslow.

Freed was smiling. "Yeah. That guy is the whole reason I formed this team." He looked back at her. "He's the whole reason you've got us, now. I wouldn't have even taken an interest in you if I wasn't recruiting."

The boy, Laxus, walked across the bridge above them, not noticing them. He was the boy who'd given her the job that one time. Evergreen instantly felt a sense of admiration for him. One of the strongest is what he was, Freed had said, and he would get even stronger. And it was going to be their job to protect him.

Bickslow ruffled her hair. "Pretty cute, ain't he?"

She blushed. "T-that's not what I was thinking about!"

Bickslow cackled. "Sure it wasn't. Anyway, you'll get to meet him in a couple 'a days. He's takin' the three of us into the mountains for somethin' like a training camp, then we're following it up with a way hard job."

Freed rolled his eyes. "You seem too excited about the 'hard job' part."

Bickslow clenched his fists. "It's bordering S-Class! How can I not be excited?"

"… Is he gonna like me?" Evergreen asked quietly.

Freed lifted an eyebrow. "Dunno. He's a tough guy to please."

"Are you sure I can be of use to him?"

"After a bit of training with him, no doubt."

* * *

Laxus tuned out of Freed's excited chattering of their new recruit, done after two days of it. Enough of listening to the boys constant praise of her; he'd make a judgement for himself.

Bickslow was leaning against a tree, he saw as they approached the meeting spot, talking to a short girl who only came up to his chest. He leaned into Freed. "That her?"

Freed became all business. "Yes, sir."

"She's small," he said disapprovingly.

Freed hesitated to answer for a moment. "She- Well, she doesn't have much muscle, and she wasn't eating properly up until a month ago. Give her some time to put on some weight and muscle mass."

Laxus assessed her again. "She'd still be small. Ugh, small people..."

"Laxus, you're too focused on her size…"

Bickslow lifted his head as they came to a stop by them, his crazy smile appearing. "Yo, Laxus! Ready for a boot camp?"

Laxus smirked, fist-bumping Bickslow. "The question is, friend, are_ you _ready?"

Bickslow tossed back his head, cackling. "When am I not ready for something?"

Laxus redirected his gaze to the girl standing near them. She was short and skinny, he again noted, and a pair of black rimmed, rectangular glasses kept sliding down her nose. Her brown hair hung down to the small of her back and in her face, shielding him from a clear picture of her face.

She blushed.

He frowned.

She didn't look like much.

"I, um, wanted to thank you for helping me find that job that one time…" Her voice got quieter with each word, until he almost couldn't hear her, despite his enhanced hearing.

Laxus turned away. "Don't mention it."

Freed sensed tenseness between them and spoke up. "She's just a little shy, and-"

"I hate people who are shy," he snapped at Freed, turning back to Evergreen. "And look at her; she's scrawny, has no muscle. What can she even do?"

"She-" Bickslow began.

"I can turn people to stone," Evergreen spoke up, unwilling to let the boys do all her speaking. "And I've learned to control it better."

Laxus still narrowed his eyes at her. "A useful ability with its weaknesses, I'm sure." He looked over to Freed and Bickslow. "Yeah, we'll take 'er along, but she won't last. This chick'll be nothing but dead weight and a burden to us."

Evergreen stiffened, then looked down.

_ She'd do her best to prove him wrong._. . . . . . . .

* * *

"Alright, so, you've decided to be my 'personal bodyguards.'" Laxus made air quotations. "I've gotta toughen you up, then. I ain't havin' a bunch of pansies hold my life in their hands."

Panting, the three crouched in a field on their hands in knees, tired from their hike up the mountain and setting up of tents. Evergreen looked near passing out, over heating in her long sleeves. They'd traveled to a constantly hot area of the country, so it was very warm despite it being near the end of December.

Laxus took off his shirt, tossing it to the side. The girl jumped, blushed, and looked away, then took to burying her head in her hands, embarrassed. She was fifteen and shouldn't be looking at half-naked men. Freed patted her shoulder, too tired to chuckle, then dragged her up.

"Okay, so here's what we're gonna do." Laxus patted a pole in the middle of the camp. "See this pole? Pretty tall, right? I want you to climb it."

Bickslow stepped up to plate, grinning and rolling up his sleeves. "Easy, for an acrobat like myself."

Laxus smiled. "No, no, friend. I want you to climb up there using these." He bent down and pulled a couple of weights hanging on ribbons/rope. "I carried these all the way up the mountain; You can climb this pole with 'em, right?"

Bickslow shrugged, grabbed one in each hand, letting out an "OOMPH" as he found them heavier than expected. "Y-yeah, it's cool."

The young man couldn't even make it a foot off the ground. Freed had no more luck, and Evergreen could barely lift them off the ground. Laxus scowled at her in particular, and she shrunk under his scrutinizing gaze.

"You're all pathetic," he snapped, pounding a fist against his bare chest. "And therefore, we're making that hike up and down the mountain each day-" Groans. "And then hand-to-hand practice with me-" Moans of _Lord, why_? "And more hiking." Some _I hate you's_. "And then whatever I feel like for the rest of the day." One tiny _A__re you aiming to kill us?_

Evergreen gloomily walked past Laxus on the way to her tent, and he grabbed the front of her shirt and put his face close to hers. "Oh, don't you worry, miss. I'll for sure make a man out of you."

* * *

"He said he was gonna 'make a man out of me.' Any idea what that means?" Evergreen asked, sitting against a tree. She contentedly watched Freed as he practiced his kendo with a wooden sword.

Freed stopped and swiped sweat from his face. "I'd just assume he means he'll make a real fighter out of you. And if anyone can, it's Laxus! I mean, no offense, but as of the moment, you're really weak. I recruited you because your magic was unique, and I saw the _potential_ to make you stronger."

"Huh." Evergreen waited for him to continue his practice, but he didn't. Instead, the boy smiled and bent down in front of her, holding out the wooden sword.

"Wanna try?" he asked smiling. "It's good for building up muscle, c'mon." Freed took her hand and dragged her up. "Heaven knows you need muscle if you're gonna be a body guard." He stood behind her, holding her hands from behind to help her wield the sword. "It's like this."

After only five minutes, Freed stopped her, taking the sword. She collapsed to her knees, panting. He admitted, "You're pretty pathetic."

She frowned. _Wow, thanks_.

He smiled though, sitting down across from her. "I wouldn't worry, though. Because-" He touched his fist to her chest. "-once you find something to strive for, and find your resolve, you are sure to win."

Evergreen looked at Freed. "What's your resolve?"

Freed looked surprised and removed his fist from her. "Me? I suppose my resolve is to protect Laxus to the best of my abilities. And to reach the best of my abilities, I have to protect Laxus. See?" He grinned. "It comes full circle. Also-" His face became somber. "I need to make people who are gone proud of me."

* * *

"Get up again!" Laxus barked. Shirtless, sweaty, and in a fighting position, he was a sight to behold, but Evergreen's head was too busy spinning to tell her to blush.

Bruises adorned her body after a week of harsh training, and she focused on how they throbbed as she leaned limply against a tree. Laxus was barking things at her, but she zoned out. She was tired, battered, and wanted a day to relax… Couldn't he leave her alone? She was small and tiny and weak and unused to such labor.

A fist gathered up her shirt and yanked her to her feet and also back to the situation. The other fist pulled back and punched her across the cheek so hard she coughed out some blood. Barely, she could see Freed hold Bickslow back from assisting her, and barely she hear him say "It's good for her."

She was dropped and Evergreen simply curled up on the ground, coughing and holding herself. Laxus bent down next to her, scowling. "Totally pathetic, spineless, and useless. Remember when I said you'd be a burden and dead weight? I was right." He got up, spitting in front of her. She didn't flinch. "Freed, Bickslow, don't help her up. She can do the hike on her own behind us."

Through slitted eyes, the girl could see the young men shooting her looks as they followed Laxus down the trail. No words were said, and they were gone, following their command like good little soldiers.

Evergreen struggled to sit up, her head throbbing. That had felt like more than just a training session. It was like he was trying to beat strength into her, but it felt like almost the exact opposite. Wiping blood from her chin, she stood, yanking sweaty strands of light brown hair out of her face.

It was much to their surprise that she caught up to them minutes later, dragging herself along with the help of the mountainside and trees, whatever she could hold onto. However, she eventually began to stagger behind, and she collapsed towards the bottom of the mountain.

"Evergreen!" Bicsklow bent down next to her, swinging one of her arms over his shoulder. "I'll carry you up, 'kay? Man, you've had it rough today, haven't ya?"

And then there was another arm, ripping Bickslow away, then grabbing her pack. Evergreen looked up, breathing heavily, blood dripping down her chin from the earlier blow, and saw Laxus looking down at her coldly, shoving Bickslow ahead of them.

Freed stepped up to speak. "What, you- you're just gonna_ leave _her here? Laxus, that's a bit too far, coyotes come out at night. Sunset is only, what, an hour away?"

Laxus guided them away. "Well, if she doesn't fancy being mauled and eaten, she'll get up and follow us eventually, won't she?"

Fear clenched her as she watched them walk away, abandoning her without a second thought. Clenching her teeth, she whacked her head against the ground in self-punishment.

_Stupid girl_.

* * *

By the time she'd gotten back, it was midnight, probably. She stumbled into camp, holding her bruised cheek and limping on a battered leg. The coyote had nearly gotten her, but she'd kicked it away and it decided that a scrawny toothpick wasn't worth it.

Laxus glaring at her, holding her pack, when she got back to camp wasn't a welcome sight. Breathing deeply, she glared right back to the best of her abilities. She'd never had to glare before; Was she even doing it right? Oh no, she probably looked stupid.

"Go home."

She looked up, shocked. "Wh- why?"

"You're not suited for the life of a mage. You're not a soldier, you're not worth my time. So. Go. _Home_."

_I DON'T HAVE A HOME._

"I-I came to improve! Why would you just kick me out-" she stuttered, afraid and angry.

He snapped. "I won't put my life in the hands of someone who _can't _improve! I don't need you, and Freed was an idiot for thinking you had potential. You're through. Remember when I said I could make a man out of you? Apparently, I can't."

He vanished into his tent, anger and frustration radiating off him. Evergreen stood there, knees shaking and tears filling her eyes. Freed and Bickslow wouldn't even bother with her now, would they? It was back to being alone and angry and sad and _quiet_. Sniffing back the tears, she dragged herself away, the demonic voices in her head screaming insults and negative comments at her.

The girl stopped near the center of camp, pausing everything in her mind.

She had put on some muscle.

The pole was still there.

The weights were just laying at the bottom.

She dropped the bag and grabbed the weights without thinking, lifting them with much more ease than a week before. Already feeling like a failure, she gripped the pole and pulled herself up, succeeding in climbing a foot before being pulled down by gravity. For hours she try tried again and again before sitting down hard.

"I can't do it," she muttered. "Laxus is right. I just can't make any improvement." Her voice turned bitter. "I'll just be weak and useless all my life. No one will want to be near such a terrible person."

Disappointed in herself, she wallowed in self-pity and hatred for a few moments, scolding herself. The weights still hung around her wrists, and angrily she swung them away. Spinning, the tangled around themselves.

_Ding_

Inspiration.

Her intelligence was going to be of use.

She wasn't quite strong yet.

But she'd be damned if she wasn't smart. She'd show them that for sure.

Planting a foot firmly against the wood, she swung the weights around the pool. It took a try or two, but eventually they wound around one another. After checking for security, she began to ascend the pole with much more success than before, inching up with the ropes bit by bit.

Freed and Bickslow were up at the usual time, just after dawn, but she payed this no heed.

"Evergreen?!" she heard someone shout. Freed, ever the worried one.

"That's our- C'mon, princess! You can do it!" Bickslow, her own personal cheerleader.

"She'll fall and hurt- Ah, who'm I kidding? Go!"

After climbing for three hours, she felt numb, barely able to hear. Her muscles, still not totally developed, screamed at her to stop. Pain spread like wildfire through her body, and she felt certain that she'd never sweat more in her life, but Evergreen climbed on.

The pain was worth it.

She'd become a person that they wouldn't want to leave.

She'd become a person worthy of standing by their sides.

Her foot slipped. She heard Bickslow shout and felt sure that he was rushing to catch her. Only falling a foot, her foot found a grip in the wood. Sweating buckets, hair falling out of her braid, ever muscle tightening with determination, she gritted her teeth and climbed more.

You can imagine Laxus's surprise when he came out of his tent, ready to yell at Freed and Bickslow for being so noisy for no damn reason. He never expected to find a girl he thought was headed for home sitting atop the pole, looking ready to fall off, but full of pride and cheerfulness.

For the first time, and certainly not the last, he smiled for her.

* * *

The next day, she landed a hit on him for the first time. She hit him so hard in the jaw that he stumbled. Freed helped her improve at her swordplay, and eventually told her that also teaching her fencing might be a good idea. Bickslow really helped the girl out with her hand-eye coordination and flexibility, something she was in need of.

Laxus still wasn't warm towards her yet, but she got less scowls and glares, yet they were certainly still there.

"Looks like you're building up some muscle," Bickslow said, observing her while she read under a tree during her free time.

Evergreen looked up. "I'd certainly hope so. Laxus has been beating it into me for a week."

"So, you excited to start our job tomorrow?" he asks, leaning towards her.

She covers her mouth with the book. "U-uh, yes."

"Not too convincing," Laxus spat out, passing by. "If you want to accomplish a job, you must put you're whole heart and soul into it. You know, Evergreen-" He shot her one of the glares she was used to. "This is your time to prove me wrong. You know how I said you would be deadweight and a burden? So far, you've proved me right."

So softly that Bickslow couldn't hear her, she muttered, "I'm having second thoughts about devoting everything to him."

* * *

Evergreen tugged on Freed's sleeve as the trekked across the plain. "Remind me what the job is?"

Freed looked down at her, then looked ahead. "Just to get rid of some pesky monsters that have been bothering the towns people nearby."

Her eyebrows quirked. "W-why is that almost an S-Class?"

Bickslow grabbed her from behind, successfully making her squeak and flail. He cackled. "Well, these little critters are incredibly hard to get rid of. Not to mention, there's a huge, whole herd of them. It ain't just one or two. It's _dozens._"

"D-d-dozens? Really? G-great."

"I told you a couple days ago you could pack up and go home," Laxus barked from ahead. "In fact, I wish you would."

Evergreen puffed out her cheeks. Freed and Bickslow sighed to one another. Laxus really brought out the girl's grumpy side.

* * *

"Watch your step," Freed warned Ever, taking her hand and guiding her down the rocks. She still had the coordination of a newborn fawn, though she tried to improve.

"Gah, I hate underground," Laxus growled.

"Too bad that the whole colony lives underground, right?" Bickslow asked, holding his eye. A tree root had hit it a few minutes ago, and it still smarted.

Another five minutes passed and they reached the bottom, all panting and shivering from the chill.

"Gah, it's gonna be a hassle to get back up," Bickslow said. His puppets began to repeat as normal, but he shushed them. "Gotta be quiet down here, babies."

"Where do we even star- Fr-Freed! That rock just moved!" Evergreen shrieked, latching onto Bickslow, who was closer than the green haired teen.

"It's just the dim lighting playing tricks on you, Evergreen," Freed said.

Bickslow let the girl keep clinging onto him. "O-oh, is it?" she said, teeth chattering.

The walked around the caverns ("These little pests are diggers, apparently," Laxus said earlier before heading down, "so they colonize underground for comfort.") for another thirty minutes, Evergreen, and Bickslow as well, jumping at everything.

Eventually, Laxus stopped. Freed crashed into him, and his two teammates did the same. He sniffed the air. A growl rose in his throat as his lips curled into a scowl. Quickly, he turned, shouting, "Get do-"

He couldn't finish before the wall to their side exploded, battering them with rubble. A herd of little, brown and gray monsters, their bodies hard-looking and tough, rushed out, shrieking. Laxus, conscious of Evergreen's inability to fight things that weren't human, shoved her behind a rock harshly.

Unnoticed by her teammates, she hit her head upon impact and fell unconscious.

Bickslow kicked a little gremlin-y thing off his leg, his puppets firing blasts. "Damn, there's a lot of 'em! Laxus, what do we-"

"Duck!" was all the leader shouted, firing a bolt over the Seith mage's head, blasting away a whole group that had collected on a cliff side.

"What we do," he said, "is keep on fighting!"

Freed knocked away a few with his sheathed sword. "That's gonna be hard."

* * *

_Wake up._

The scrawny girl murmured and stirred.

_Evergreen, wake up now._

…

_They need you._

Whose voice was that? It was beautiful...

Her eyes flew open and she sat up straight, then moaned. Her head was pounding. With shaky fingers, she reached up to her forehead and touched gingerly. Red powder came away on her fingers. Head injury. She sifted the dried blood on her fingers, crossing her legs under her.

If the blood on her head was dry, how long had she been out?

Blinking, she cleared the fuzziness from her head to think logically. It was cold underground, probably 45 degrees, and the amount of blood wasn't much. It would've taken twenty minutes, maybe more, for it to dry into such a crumbly powder. Adjusting her glasses (there was a thin crack in the left lens) she put her hand on the rock and pulled herself up. Evergreen examined the area. Signs of struggle were recent, obviously.

Frowning, she continued to think. Something must have happened to the boys, because she knows that even Laxus wouldn't be cruel enough to leave her underground with a head injury. She felt around the area for magic, determining with her minimal skills that the last attack had been maybe ten minutes ago.

Evergreen tested out a few steps, knowing from experience that motor control can get a little weird after head injuries. She stumbled along the path, following a small, thin trail of blood she found. Within fifteen minutes, she heard growling and cheering sounds; not human, though.

Peeking around the side of a rock, she saw what one could assume to be the whole colony crowded around three figures much bigger than them. They were tied up, and with a flash of panic, she realized it was the boys.

"I can't go that way," Evergreen whispered to herself, looking at the path leading over there. With a quick prayer for her head not to throb too much, or a blackout, she scaled the rock face to the area above.

* * *

"Freed," Laxus said over the sound of the monsters screaming. "Freed, wake up, man!"

Bickslow was spitting at the little terrors, growling, doing his best to intimidate them and keep them away, but it wasn't working much. With a grunt, Freed snapped back to consciousness.

"L-Laxus, what the-" Blinking and shaking his head, he became more alert and realized that the three teenagers were tied together in a crowd of midget monsters. "Oh, dammit. What happened?"

"These things seem to be smarter than we think. One of them rolled a rock over the edge onto your head. You were out like a light. They got me and Bickslow, too, while we were distracted."

"Where's-"

"The chick? Pushed her behind a rock, didn't see her during a fight. She's probably okay if she's not here with us."

Freed scowled with worry. "I hope she'll be okay."

Laxus blew a strand of hair out of his face, staring down the mob. "Doubt it. The girl is completely pathetic, can't do a thing for herself. She'll die down here, probably."

Freed finally snapped, though it probably wasn't the best time to do so. "Can you stop saying those things about her? She's got low enough self confidence anyway, she doesn't need you yapping all the time about how useless she is. And she climbed the pole when none of us could. Evergreen is going to be incredible, and she doesn't need you to bring her down!"

Laxus didn't have anything to say to that, only tightened his jaw.

Grumbling and upset, Freed asked, "Why don't we just use magic to bust out of these ropes?"

Bickslow joined in the conversation. "If we did that, there's no doubt we'd break this cliff."

"Cliff?" Freed looked at the surroundings beyond the monsters for the first time. Sure enough, the three were surrounded by monsters a fourth of their size on the very edge of a cliff that dropped further down into the underground.

"I'm willing to bet they're gonna toss us at some point, when they're done laughing. So either way, we're dead." The Dragon Slayer scowled. "I just have no interest in frying us three."

* * *

"I'm crazy, I'm crazy, I'm crazy," Evergreen kept repeating to herself.

She rolled a medium-sized boulder up the cliff, above the mob and the boys, straining with it. The plan was to drop the large rock off the cliff, pray it didn't hit the rescuees, and while the little critters were distracted by the death of some of their own, she would swoop down on a rope from her bag, cut the boys ropes with her knife, and run. Quickly.

Crazy, like she said, and completely unlikely to go so smoothly as she imagined.

Peering down one more time, she cursed to herself. It was a good twenty feet down at most, and her rope was only around twelve feet. She'd have to jump eight feet at least, get back up immediately, and cut the ropes as quickly as possible. For back up, she did have some magic bombs that Freed had bothered to purchase her for emergencies, but there were only five for the whole rescue.

Again making sure the rope was secure on a rock, she gripped it tightly, near tears, then dropped it to push the boulder. Whispering, "Please, please, please, _let me be useful for once_," she pushed it over the edge, listening to the squelching sound as it hit its mark of creatures, not human males. She gripped the rope and slid down, eyes tightly shut and brown hair flying about her.

The rope snapped.

With a shriek, she fell fifteen feet instead of the anticipated eight, flailing. The fall would kill her for certain.

She landed on something soft. Well, softer than rock.

"Evergreen? Way to drop on in!" Bickslow said.

Shaking, she opened her eyes to find she'd fallen into Freed and Bickslow's laps. Laxus stared down at her like she'd fallen from space or something. The other two grinned surprisedly. Stumbling up, she fumbled with the knife in her belt and snapped one rope, then two, then three.

The monsters were recovering, and they sounded angry.

As they charged, howling, Evergreen cut through the last rope. Instantly Laxus was up, blasting straight through the middle with a thin bolt of lightning.

"Go, go!" he shouted, letting the three in front, taking up the rear himself.

Running as fast as possible, the team ran all the way through the underground to where they assumed they had entered.

"This is a bad time to bring it up, I know, but they're right on our tail," Bickslow said, "and look at what they can do."

Each one stopped for a brief look. Some of the monsters were… merging? Yes, unfortunately for the four, they were merging into huge, wolf-like creatures that were easily catching up. It was always something, wasn't it?

Breathing deeply, Evergreen turned on her heel and threw the bombs behind. The rock bridge-like structure collapsed, taking a good deal of the monsters with it.

"Nice!" Bickslow shouted, his puppets, which had been hiding but emerged upon the rescue, repeating the word with much enthusiasm. "But they'll find another way around, so we've gotta keep going."

"Okay, we're going up, so shut your faces." Laxus grabbed a tree root and headed up the thin opening. The team followed behind.

The dark sky, specked with stars greeted them. Bickslow flopped down, but Freed nudged him up with his foot. "Get up, they're still chasing us. We need to get to a place where we can fight them easier."

Laxus cussed. "Too late. Start running!"

The wolf-y ones had the ability to dig, apparently, and were emerging from the ground behind them. Bickslow sighed with aggravation and followed behind the team of four.

"At least all they can do is dig- I TAKE THAT BACK."

A fireball flew past, hitting a tree, setting it aflame and headed for the ground.

Bickslow watched the flames grow. "It's always something, isn't it? Man, I wish Natsu were here. He'd get a snack _and _our lives would be saved."

"Well, we've driven ourselves into a corner, haven't we?" Freed said, calm overlying panic. The four had run straight to a that overlooked a very deep gorge. The boy looked around, remembering something Carol had told him. _Always use your surroundings like the clever boy you are._

"Climb the tree!" he shouted as the "wolves" rushed at them over the hill.

Laxus stayed on the ground, guarding the tree the team had fled up.

Bickslow shouted down, "Hurry up, man!"

_ "_No, I'll cover you!"he shouted, sending a bolt flying. He successfully knocked one away.

Another shot a fireball from its mouth.

It hit the tree. The three in it, shrieked (Bickslow would never admit that his shriek was more feminine than Evergreen's, but it totally was) as it fell towards the gorge. The tree groaned as it's roots became the only things to hold it up. The three clutched onto the branches for dear life.

"Guys!" Laxus shouted back. A wolf pounced on him, taking up his attention.

"What now?" Bickslow asked, voice an octave higher than normal.

"Don't fall?" Freed suggested.

"Thanks, genius!"

Evergreen watched the wolves attack Laxus over and over, the firelight reflected in her cursed, brown eyes. Her fingers gripped the trunk tighter as new resolve gripped her. Inching bit by bit, ignoring the shouts of the boys, she made her way to the ledge, shaking with fear from a few near falls. She stood, clenching her fists. Laxus was screaming with pain by this point, the fangs of one buried in his shoulder, the remaining two coming up to finish the job.

"Stop that," she said, voice soft. The wolf creatures looked up at her, registering her presence, then ignoring her.

"Stop that," she said, louder and firmer. She began to take a few steps forward, each one faster. The wolves continued to advance on the S-class.

"I said stop!" she shouted, lifting her hands.

Everyone was surprised by the explosions that came next, blasting away one of the creatures. Shocked, Evergreen looked down at her hands, eyes widening at the dust falling down from them.

_It's like fairy dust, _was her first thought. Her second was to use it again, and with a shout, she charged the next monster, blasting it at close range. Blood spattered her and Laxus next to her as she blew it's shoulder off.

Wide-eyed, Laxus stared up at her as she took on the wolf monster that had previously been burying its jaws in his shoulder.

_Evergreen is going to be incredible, _he remembered Freed saying.

By the time the boys had gotten off the tree, which fell shortly after, Evergreen had disposed of all the creatures, standing amidst the flames, splattered with blood. She looked pale and shocked, and turned to them, trembling ever so slightly.

Laxus stood, blood gushing from his shoulder, and ignoring the other guys, limped to her. With him standing so close to her without beating her up, she could really see the height difference.

His eyes narrowed. "That was stupid and reckless."

She flinched. "I-I know, I just couldn't watch you, um… A-and, I have no idea where that magic came from, it just-just, it just happened." She was shaking a lot now, and her words were barely coherent. There was so much blood on her that wasn't her own.

"Remember when I told you you'd be nothing, just a burden?"

She flinched, holding her hands out in front of her as his arms rose.

One of the biggest shocks of her life was when he embraced her instead of hitting her.

"I've never been so wrong. You're a good, brave soldier, Evergreen."

Blushing and with tears gathering in her eyes, she clutched him back.

* * *

She woke up a day later in a nearby inn, collapsed from what seemed like magic exhaustion. Freed immediately pressed her back down into the bed and Bickslow brought her a bowl of soup. As she ate it, Laxus entered the room, bandaged up as well, his shaggy blonde hair hanging in his face as usual.

His eyes flickered down to her arms. With a gasp, she almost dropped the soup. Her arms weren't covered up, and her scars were there for all to see.

The orange orbs went to her face. "You stop doing that?"

"Y-yes," she mumbled, dipping her spoon back into the soup.

"Good." He sat down, kicking his legs up on her bed posts.

Freed and Bickslow left the room, leaving the two. After some silence, Laxus spoke. "Bickslow told me about the first job you went on together, the explosion that happened. I'm starting to think that you have a really good protective instinct, and that it activates your magic." He leaned forward, smiling a bit. "Means that that explosion, the one that took out all the punks? That was you." He chuckled like the thought was funny and leaned back. "I really am sorry for the things I told you, by the way."

She lowered the spoon from her lips as he spoke, the utensil still full. "N-no, that's fine. It's just fine…"

"It's really not."

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't fine, but it did make me more motivated. I just wanted to prove that I could be useful."

Laxus smiled at her for the second time. "Well, you have. Welcome aboard, Evergreen." Hesitating, she gripped his outstretched hand. He gripped it back. "Welcome to the family."


End file.
